Objective To evaluate the clinical effectiveness of different surgical treatments for recurrent pterygium. Methods Databases such as The Cochrane Library, PubMed (1966 to 2011), EMbase (1989 to 2011), CNKI (1979 to 2011), VIP (1989 to 2011) and WanFang Data (1982 to 2011) were electronically searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on different surgical treatments for recurrent pterygium, and the relevant references were also retrieved. According to the inclusion criteria, we screened literature, extracted data, and critically assessed the quality of RCTs. Then the meta-analysis was conducted using RevMan 5.0 software. Results A total of 19 RCTs were included. The results of meta-analyses showed, limbal stem cell autograft transplantation (LAT) combined with amniotic membrane transplantation (AMT), LAT alone, and intraoperative using of mitomycin C, effectively reduced the recurrence rate of recurrent pterygium. Statistic differences were found (Plt;0.01) when they were compared with conventional pterygium excision alone or plus AMT. Conclusion Current evidence shows LAT+AMT, LAT alone, and intraoperative using of mitomycin C can effectively reduce the recurrence rate of recurrent pterygium. But this conclusion still needs to be proved by large-scale RCTs due to the limited quantity and quality of the included studies.